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Devin Nunes mailed his book about socialism to California voters. Do they want it?
Voters in Rep. Devin Nunes’ congressional district are receiving copies of a 90-page book he wrote criticizing the Democratic Party, and some of his constituents are outraged by the unsolicited mail.
The book, “Countdown to Socialism,” comes with a flier saying the mailing was paid for by Nunes’ reelection campaign.
Nunes, R-Tulare, has characterized the book as a summary of his views on the Democratic Party and the news media. He contends the Democratic Party “has changed beyond recognition,” according to a description of the book on Amazon. It was published in September.
“Socialist regimes tend to excel at propaganda,” the back of the book says. “They have to have an intensive propaganda operation to make this ideology seem appealing. In America today, among the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, and the social media barons and tech oligarchs, this propaganda network already exists.”
Arguments like those are central to Nunes’ platform, and he uses them frequently to support President Donald Trump. Nunes’ reputation as a Trump ally has drawn national attention to his district over the past four years. The congressman has faced unusually tough campaigns since then.
His closest campaign since he took office in 2003 came in 2018, when he defeated local prosecutor Andrew Janz by five percentage points. This year, he’s being challenged by Democrat Phil Arballo, a local financial adviser.
Some of Nunes’ constituents began complaining on Twitter about the book being sent to them unsolicited in October.
“More loony, conspiracy theory swag being sent out to Devin Nunes‘ non-supporter constituents, unsolicited,” Bryce Engstrom tweeted, along with a pictures of the book. “Truly bizzare (sic) and unhinged.”
One constituent, who said she was registered Republican but does not support Nunes, shared the materials she received with McClatchy. A flier came with the book that said it was “compliments of Congressman Devin Nunes” and “paid for by the Devin Nunes Campaign Committee.” It also asked voters to visit Nunes’ campaign website and subscribe to his podcast.
It’s not clear how much money Nunes’ campaign spent on the books, or how many he sent out.
There were no expenses that clearly pointed to a book expense in campaign reports published Thursday night. Those reports cover expenses through the end of September, so if he purchased the books in October they would not show up until a later campaign finance report.
Nunes’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
There is one expense for “constituent/donor gifts” for $83,500 to River Right LLC, a media and consulting company whose director is Tal Cloud, a longtime Nunes ally. It’s unclear if that expense was for a bulk purchase of the books or something else. There are no expenses for gifts by Nunes’ Leadership political action committee, called New PAC.
Cloud did not respond to a request for comment.
Brendan Fischer, director of the federal reform program at Campaign Legal Center, said candidates are not allowed to personally benefit from campaign funds. Questions about politician’s books have come up many times before, since many candidates write books and want to share the material with constituents.
“The general rule is that the campaign would have to buy the book at the bulk rate, and there would have to be an agreement with the publisher that the candidate not receive royalties on the sales,” Fischer said.
He added that it was “odd” that there was no direct expense to the publisher, but “the same rules would apply” if they bought the books through an intermediary.
It’s not the first time Nunes has distributed large booklets to constituents about socialism claims. In the 2018 election Nunes’ campaign sent out a 40-page, glossy, magazine-style mailer to residents of his district that said The Fresno Bee was a “propaganda machine.” On the cover, it showed The Bee’s mascot on a sinking ship, drinking Kool-Aid and drowning in a sea with a pamphlet with the word “socialism.”
Nunes’ campaign finance reports showed he has continued raising huge sums of money for his re-election campaign. He raised $6.1 million in the third quarter of 2020, the last full quarter before the November election. That brings his total raised for the 2020 cycle to $22.3 million.
He has $10.8 million in cash on hand, according to those reports, after spending $5.7 million last quarter.
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